Shadow Stalker
by DecidedlyDeranged
Summary: Myra inhaled deeply, the cool air rushing into her nose brought the familiar stench of Venice. She sighed &, peering from under the hang of her hood, jumped from the church steeple, slipping into the water of the docks with an almost silent dive.
1. Foiled Plans

Myra inhaled deeply, the cool air rushing into her nose brought the familiar stench of Venice. She sighed &, peering from under the hang of her hood, jumped from the church steeple, slipping into the water of the docks with an almost silent dive. She resurfaced close to a wall & began to climb, leaping from window ledge to dislodged brick with the agility of a cat. Her target would be in the town square in under an hour, she needed to get into a good position & possibly take out a few sentries on her way; her presence was becoming too easily recognised in the streets of late. In all honesty she didn't like taking contracts during the day at all; there were too many people around, not enough shadows to conceal herself within, but this time it was necessary. That murderer, Marco Barbarigo, was going to become Doge of Venice, There was no way she was going to let him.

There was an archer just above her, perfect. She reached out an arm, wrapped it round his legs & pulled, simultaneously stabbing a concealed blade into his brain. Letting go of his limp body she pulled herself up onto the roof. From there she moved across the city, never touching the ground, taking out any archers who noticed her. Before long she was in position, a high roof concealed by trees with just a wide enough gap to see the boat. The party started & still Marco & his men hadn't arrived. Another 20 minutes passed but eventually her patience was rewarded; a figure stepped from the crowd cloaked in rich blue robes and surrounded by guards, that had to be him. She drew a knife from her pocket, judging the distance carefully before snapping her wrist & letting it sail through the air, right into the back of. . .WHAT! Where the fuck had he come from? Myra swore violently as her knife stuck into the back of some white robed man. He had to go get in the fucking way, didn't he? Now things were going to get difficult. She quickly moved positions, too bad the man in white had already turned round & seen her, just brilliant, he was an assassin too, & from the looks of it, he was about to get himself killed by the 30 or so guards coming towards him. She cursed her nobleness as she jumped down to help him, dropping a smoke bomb as she landed

'Go.' She hissed, when the idiot still didn't move she rounded on him, 'You're an idiot. Now get lost while I save your ass. No need to thank me.' She shoved him in the general direction of a wall & hoped he had the sense to get the hell out of there before the smoke cleared.

She killed the six guards around her in seconds then waited as the remaining 24 ran towards her. Shit, if she made it out of this alive then she was going to kill that idiot. An axe swung at her head & she ducked, grabbing the guard's left arm & bending it backwards, forcing him to let go of his weapon, which fell neatly into her hands just in time for her to cut his head off with it. She whipped the weapon round to cleave a deep gash into the side of two more guards, letting it go to land squarely in the stomach of another. She disarmed a second guard, stabbing him neatly through the heart with his sword then proceeded to parry & counter the attacks of two more at once. She dispensed of them & jumped up & over the horde of guards, stabbing two in the head simultaneously with her hidden blades. But as she turned one of the guards carved a deep line into her leg & another smashed her arm with his mace. Fuckit! There were just too many of them, she'd have to make a timely escape. That stupid assassin had ruined her perfect plan, she flung a dagger distractedly towards Barbarigo as she tried to figure a way out of this mess, it hit him squarely in the head but she wasn't really paying much attention to that. Just as she'd made up her mind to swim for an escape she noticed Bartolomeo d'Alviano standing in the crowd fending off guards, how did he always manage to get himself into trouble? Fuck it all! She grabbed his hand & took off running through the streets. She turned a sharp corner, then another & another, where was a bloody haystack when you needed one? There! Finally! She dived amongst the dry grass, pulling Bartolomeo with her.

'Stay quiet.' She warned him as she listened for any passing guards, two came near but neither stopped to inspect the hay. Few. She stood up & started running again, back towards the d'Alviano family home.

'Stay inside & keep your men with you.' She warned Bartolomeo as he was ushered inside by some of his men, even though she knew he wouldn't listen. She sighed, there was no way she could climb with her injuries & no way she could go see a doctor with every guard in the whole city out looking for her. Guess it was back to Sister Teodora's brothel then. Fuck she hated that place.


	2. He's a Womaniser

Myra pursed her lips in the backstreets behind the brothel, it would be hard to climb up to the open window with only one useable arm & leg, but could she really risk walking round the front & using the front door? No. The window it was then. She grimaced & jumped, grabbing a loose brick with one hand & lifting herself up. She kicked her good foot off from the wall, propelling herself upwards & grabbing onto a pole. Damn, she hadn't done anything this difficult in a while, She hung there for awhile before mustering up the strength to heave herself up on top of the pole one handed. Balancing on one leg on a pole half the size of her foot wasn't too easy either but she continued up in this manner until she finally reached the open window on the top floor, practically tumbling onto the floor of the room after checking it was empty.

'Sister Teodora!' Myra called out, knowing she couldn't show herself dressed in assassin robes to the customers of the brothel.

'Asilia?' Came the answering call. Teodora didn't know her real name of course, that would be stupid.

'Yes, I need help.' She replied, hating how pathetic she sounded but as the light thud of footsteps approached the door she found she didn't care; her arm was quiet literally exploding in pain, it felt like the bloody guard had pretty much shattered every bone in it.

'Asilia!' Teodora Cried in horror at the sight of the blood all over Myra's clothes.

'Saved some stupid amateur assassin from getting himself killed.' She explained with a grimace as Teodora started to tend the wound on her leg. 'He was after the same target as me, got in the way as well.'

'He wouldn't happen to be wearing white & go by the name of Ezio, would he?'

'No idea about the name, but he was definetly wearing white. Why? He's here, isn't he?'

'Well, I think he's down stairs. Once we get you patched up & dressed in some less noticeable attire, you can go see for yourself. He's with Antonio, the thief?'

'Mm. He would be.' She murmured. Teodora shook her head lightly & proceeded to reset Myra's arm in place, she tried not to let the pain show on her face.

'You're lucky. There's only one major break, a few smaller ones but you should regain use of your arm in 4 months. Though with your remarkable healing abilities, it'll probably only be 2.'

'I'm guessing 1 ½ .'

'You can't always hope for miracles.'

'What else is there to hope for?' Myra countered. Teodora smiled

'Ah, that's the girl I know.'

'Mm, Am I done yet?' She asked, a little impatiently.

'Yes, just about. Now get washed & changed then come downstairs. My customers need these rooms.'

'You want me to wear whore clothes again?' Myra demanded

'Yes, I do. But with that broken arm you'll put off most of my customers so I won't get a whole load of complaints about why there's one unavailable girl wandering round.'

'Hn. Whatever.' She dismissed with slight disgust motioning for The Sister to leave the room. 'Thanks.' She added as an after-thought.

She turned to the small metal bath tub, shutting the window & door before stripping & washing herself. She'd leave her robes under the floorboards, Sister Teodora would clean them later. She walked over to the wardrobe & picked out a black outfit, the most modest out of all them, but still degradingly revealing nonetheless. She pulled it on then walked over to the mirror & draws, she wouldn't pass off as a whore with her hair scraped back in a tight bun as it was at the moment. She let it down, thick golden-brown curls tumbling down her back. There, she looked like any dolled up street harlot. Just Brilliant. She slipped two black slippers onto her feet before walking out of the room & down the stairs. She found the Ezio guy almost instantly, he was tall, well muscled, wearing white assassin robes & surrounded by a group of girls while talking to Antonio on a couch.

Teodora came over to her, 'Is that him?'

'Yeh, that's him.' She replied, giving him a quick once over, unfortunately he saw her & his eyes lit up. 'Oh shit.' She hissed & quickly turned back to talking to Teodora. 'I swear to god, if he even tries-'

'He will & you'll politely tell him you've got a broken arm, not blowing your cover, remember?' Myra glared at her but knew she was right

'Fine.' She spat eventually

'Good, now go make yourself useful & serve some drinks. Remember, pretty, weak, polite.' Myra had the faint impression Teodora was enjoying her annoyance. The little bitch.

She walked over & swept up a tray of drinks, effortlessly balancing them on one hand & gliding in & out of tables laying drinks down in front of laughing men. It was tempting to slit every one of their throats but at the end of the day, where would that get her? So she served drinks & food, subtly avoiding the table which Ezio was seated around, quite conscious that his gaze kept drifting to her. The bastard, if he knew she was the same person who'd saved his arse this afternoon then she bet he wouldn't be looking at her like that. Eventually though, his companion called for a drink so she was forced to walk over & hand them the last two drinks on her tray

'Hey, you haven't sat down all evening,' Ezio noted with a smile, 'Why not take a seat with us?'

'Yes of course, leave that tray on the table. I'm sure there're plenty of other girls to serve drinks around.' Antonio added

'I'm sorry gentlemen, but I have broken my arm so am unavailable for any _services._' Myra just about managed to hiss between her teeth in a relatively courteous manner.

'That won't stop you from just sitting with us & having a drink or two though, would it?' Ezio suggested persistently, Teodora sent her a meaningful glare from across the room, she restrained the urge to roll her eyes, smiled & sat down. Ezio imeditally swept her up onto his lap, ok, he was really going to die now. 'There, isn't that much more comfortable?' He called over another girl to get her a drink. 'So what's your name?' he asked Myra.

'Asilia,' she lied reflexively. 'And yours?'

'Ezio.' He grinned, obviously he expected her to know who he was then, fine, that made life a bit easier

'The Assassin?' she asked in a slightly hushed voice

'Yep, but don't worry, I'm not going to harm you.' So now he was trying to scare her? Like hell that was going to work

'Oh I'm sure you won't. I've heard about you; the "good assassin"?'

'Is that what they're calling me?' he seemed amused by the idea, he should be more worried that he was so well known. His hands idly played with her hair & she felt a sudden hot breath on the side of her throat, making her jump & almost spin round to stab him. 'Don't worry, just relax.' He murmured, gently kissing her neck. Ok, so he was skilled, it didn't make it any easier to resist killing him. 'You know, I'd be gentle. Your arm wouldn't hurt at all.'

'Maybe so, but I'd rather not take the risk.' She said quickly, possibly slightly too quickly

'Fine, just though I'd mention it.' One of his hands dropped to her calve & began to walk its way up her leg. Myra desperately caught Teodora's eyes. The Sister was pleading her not to do anything rash, but her anger &, though she'd never admit it, fear were beginning to rise.

'Asilia! Table 6 needs drinks!' Teodora called, coming to her rescue.

'Sorry Sister!' Myra called back, relief bubbling inside her. She detangled Ezio's hands from around her &, with a barely apologetic smile, rose to accept the tray of drinks from Teodora's hands.

'My girls have been out. Every poster of you in town is down & the majority of the guards are distracted. There's some more, _appropriate_ clothing in my room. I'll wash & fix your other ones.' She whispered

'Thank you Sister.' Her lips twisted with a slight smile as Myra put an emphasis on the word "Sister" they both knew she didn't hold any respect for a whore, or a nun, & especially not a whoring nun.

'Go. Before I change my mind.' Teodora warned her with a hint of amusement. She wasted no time hanging around, quickly rushing up the stairs & changing into one of the spare set of black assassin robes that Teodora kept for her. She clipped, slipped & belted her various weapons into place before leaping from the window, landing with only a slight wince of pain as the impact jolted her broken arm.


	3. Excuses

Two nights later she slipped her dagger imbetween the ribs of an archer, only just hitting his heart before withdrawing & letting the body tumble down into the haystack below. Urgh, this climbing & killing stuff was much harder with one arm. She started running, throwing knives at archers in preference to close combat. After a while she heard a noise behind her, she ignored it until she realised it was following her. She suddenly dropped below a gap imbetween two houses, catching a protruding pole with her one good arm. She waited, but no-one jumped over the gap or followed her down. Frowning she dropped to the floor & continued on foot for a while before returning to the roofs, but practically as soon as her feet touched the terracotta tiles the light sound of footsteps behind her started up again. Who would dare follow an assassin? Another assassin obviously, but surely most would have recognised her & given up by now? Urgh, of course! It was probably that Ezio guy, Brilliant. She spun round suddenly & pounced, knocking the shadowed form to the ground & touching one of her concealed blades to his throat

'Don't even think of moving,' she hissed, 'I just hope you have a good reason for following me otherwise there'll be one less assassin in this town by the end of the night.' His hood had been thrown back to reveal the slightly shocked looking but still roughly handsome face of Ezio. He managed to fix a slight grin on his face despite the situation, she was careful to keep her own face shadowed.

'_You're_ the Shadow Stalker? I thought it'd be a guy!' His voice was incredulous, she kneed him hard in the balls. 'Arg-Fuck!' He exclaimed through gritted teeth

'Yes I am the "Shadow Stalker" & if you were smart you wouldn't be following me, if you were smart then you'd beg for mercy & promise never to bother me again if only I let you live. Got it?'

'Yeh, too bad I've never been much known for my brains though.' He replied without a trace of fear and a easy charming smile. Ok, she'd give him points for guts.

'Then I'll just take this nicely bulging pack of money then,' She suggested, jabbing her elbow into his neck to keep him on the ground while she cut the purse string. 'Thanks.'

'Don't mention it.' He said dryly, she grinned but he wasn't finished. 'You're the assassin that helped me in the town square the other day, aren't you?'

'So what if I am?'

'Well, why did you do it? It would have been a lot easier for you to just leave me there.'

'Maybe I have a soft spot for mentally incapable people.' She retorted with a shrug, back flipping off him & swinging her fist round to connect with his jaw, knocking him to the floor. 'Just to make sure you don't follow me anymore. Good night.' She laughed lightly, leaving him swearing at her & fading out of consciousness on the cold rooftops.


	4. Outwitted

Myra held the blade up to the light, sure, it was pretty but that wasn't really what she was interested in. She swung it round, noting how easily it sliced through the air, she tested its balance, inspected the helm and the scabbard before finally flicking the tip lightly with her fingers, the blade rang joyfully and flexed easily, all in all, it was a pretty damn fine sword, but was it worth 14000 flourins? Ah, what the hell, it wasn't really her money anyway. A smile touched her face as she handed over the money to the blacksmith and buckled the sword in place. If she ever saw Ezio again she'd have to thank him...

Oh dear, talk of the devil, there he was, strolling around in daylight in full assassin robes, the idiot. He had his hood up and was at least avoiding the guards though, which also meant he wouldn't see her, not that she expected him to recognise her while she was dressed up as a street urchin. His stride was very purposeful and he seemed to be in a hurry, she raised an eyebrow, maybe she should follow him, it might prove interesting...

She noticed the presence of three thieves around the area, she signalled to each of them in the thieves' sign language, they replied back; they'd spread out and follow him from different angles. She nodded once and started to wind her way through the crowd towards Ezio, she occasionally paused to tear down the odd poster of the "Shadow Stalker" but easily kept pace with him.

He suddenly took to the roofs, earning surprised shouts from the surrounding civilians and alerting a group of guards who imeditally started chasing him. Myra sighed and flung three poisoned needles at them and moved away before anyone noticed her presence. Why did she always end up clearing up after Ezio's mess? Had the damned idiot never heard of subtlety! She walked through some back streets until she was sure there was no-one around, from there she moved up onto the roofs. She saw a white blur out of the corner of her eye and turned her head to see Ezio disappearing over the edge of a ledge. She took off after him, intrigued as to where he could be going.

After permanently silencing four guards and travelling halfway across the city it finally clicked; of course he was going to see the soon-to-be new Doge! He was working with Antonio after all, god she was being slow today. Knowing where he was going, she took a faster route there, hoping to get into position and spy on his meeting purely because she had nothing better to do with her time.

She scaled the side of the great building in a matter of seconds; that was the easy part, the hard part was getting down and into the Doge's balcony unnoticed. She'd have to create a distraction, she signalled the thieves who were busy catching up with her, they came over and she explained what she wanted them to do. They grinned, nodded and jumped down into the small pavilion. Shouting, yelling, shoving and standing on their hands, the thieves provided the perfect distraction; a paralysing balance of fear and entertainment. One dropped a smoke bomb. That was her cue, she had the 7 ½ seconds it took the smoke to clear to get across the atrium and down into the balcony. Needless to say, she acted quickly and instantly, sprinting across the tiles before dropping down to the metal lantern below her and swinging herself into the balcony, finishing with a neat forward roll. She stood up to see that the smoke was just clearing, good. She carved a quick few lines on a tile halfway up the wall before running up it and catching hold of one of the beams supporting the roof. Holding herself there by the fingertips on her one good hand and lodging the toes of her boots into a crack she waited as the sound of oncoming footsteps grew louder.

Another painful five seconds passed before the door opened, in stepped Antonio and Agostino discussing the latter's anticipated election but they swiftly moved on to more troubling matters; Silvio Barbarigo's sudden hijacking of the arsenal and arrest of Bartolomeo. Damn that man! Always rushing into battles he couldn't win.

A few seconds later Ezio appeared on the balcony, presumably having dropped from the roof above like Myra had done. Antonio's eyes flicked to him despite the silence with which he had landed.

'Ah! Ezio, come in. How good of you to join us, we were just discussing you.' He started, drawing Agostino's attention to the assassin. At the same time Antonio seemed to notice Myra's mark engraved upon the wall and a small smile touched his face as he quickly scanned the room for her, he found nothing of course.

Ezio strode into the room, taking a seat directly below her. As they settled into a conversation Myra suddenly questioned the logic of her hiding place; her one useable arm was burning with the task of keeping her whole body held up and her stomach muscles were cramping from having to hold her body flat against the beams, she wished the damned guys would have the courtesy to hurry the fuck up.

'Yes, that's right; we want you to free Bartolomeo and his men and assassinate Silvio Barbarigo.'

'Can do.' Ezio decided, standing up and exiting the way he had come.

'You needn't worry now Agostino, you can put your trust in Ezio to finish the job.'

Agostino nodded, 'That is good. Hopefully Venezia will soon be as peaceful and prosperous again as it once was.' With this the old man stood up, 'Now, I will take my leave of you, if I may. I assume you can find your way out friend?'

'Certainly, I might stay here and enjoy the day a bit for a while first though, if that's okay.'

'Of course, of course, you hardly need to ask!'

Antonio shrugged, 'Courtesy among friends shouldn't be displaced.' Agostino concurred and left the room. 'Okay Myra, where are you? And how did you know about our meeting?' He asked the room in general, a smile on his face

She let go of the beams, twisted round in the air, somersaulted and landed neatly and silently on the floor seconds behind Antonio. She tapped him lightly on the back, a smirk on her face. He jumped and spun, then relaxed and rolled his eyes.

'So, do I get an answer to my second question?'

Myra shrugged, 'Meh, I figured it out. You're very easy to predict.'

'Oh really?' He tried to sound affronted. 'So, what do you think of my new little assassin, Ezio?'

'Well, seeing as I've had to save him already and earned myself a smashed arm and a deep gash to my leg for my troubles, I'd say my first take on him would be that he's an arrogant fool who needs some serious training in the arts of everything, most importantly subtlety, before he can ever be called anything close to an assassin, let alone actually be one.'

Antonio laughed, 'Perfect! That's exactly what I was thinking.' His grin told her everything she needed to know

'Oh no. Don't even suggest it! I am _not_ going to!'

'Yes you are.'

'Why me!' She demanded

'Because as you keep telling us all, you're the best and if Ezio's in such bad need of training then he's going to need the best.'

'But I have much more important things to do!'

'Like what? And if you do, what are you doing snooping about our meetings and mugging Ezio late at night?'

'I was doing it for- Wait! How do you know about that!'

'Ezio was complaining that some female assassin had robbed him a few nights ago, I could only imagine it could be you.'

'Hmph, whatever, I am not training him.'

'Yes you are, it's already decided.'

'I'm going to kill you for this.'

'You think you could take me?'

'Well, as you just admitted, I am the best.' She smirked

'Oh good, I guess that means you accept then.' Her smirk faltered, his grew. The silence stretched out as she tried to think of a way to talk herself out of the deep dark hole she had dug herself into, failing this she said the wittiest thing she could muster at that moment;

'...Damn.'


	5. This is Going to End in Tears

Myra waited in the shadows of a doorway, hearing the tell tale thud of boots she stuck her fist out just as Ezio's face rounded the corner.

'Owwwww! Fuck!' He exclaimed, clutching his bleeding nose and reeling backwards. 'Who the hell-!' He looked up, saw her and a mixture of emotions passed across his face. Surprise, anger, relief, annoyance, surprise. 'Why are you-?'

'Here?' She finished for him. 'Because I've been convinced, curse the Gods, to train you. No, don't interrupt me yet; you don't have to understand why, you just have to listen to me. Someone's opinion who I, perhaps foolishly, value is that you are headed for big things against bigger enemies and you need to be prepared. Now I'm not going to be a nice or easy teacher but you'll have to get used to my teaching methods because it seems neither of us have a choice. Any questions?' She didn't give him time to answer. 'No, Good. Follow me and please refrain from letting forth that unintelligible stream of gibberish that is undoubtedly about to come out of your mouth trying to ask "Why?" "Who?" "When" because it will not get an answer and so there is no point.' She started walking, expecting him to keep up.

'Well, can I ask where we are going at least?' He recovered quickly, she smiled

'You can, I may not answer.' There were a few moments of silence before he realised she wanted him to actually ask the question.

'Ok. So, Urh, where are we going?'

'We are going to the house of a friend of mine, where I will train you for the next few days.'

'What type of training?'

'Everything; climbing, tactics, fighting, poisoning, subtlety will be a big one.'

'You saying I'm not subtle?' He challenged, a slight playful smirk on his face. She looked him up and down once, dismissively, with a raised eyebrow

'Yeh.'

He pouted, Myra rolled her eyes and sighed, but she couldn't help liking him, slightly.


	6. She'll be the Death of Me

'Dammit!' Ezio exclaimed as he was once again thrown to the ground

'You have to be faster, make your movements more subtle if you ever want to get this flag.'

He sprung at her again, she sidestepped, he twisted as he sailed past her, shifting his weapon to his other arm and made to slice open her ribs. She ducked beneath the swing of his sword, slyly sticking out a foot to trip him up, causing him to land face-first onto the ground, again.

'Better luck next time.' She taunted, a smirk on her face.

He growled his annoyance and leapt at a wall, kicking off towards her for extra speed. Laughing, she brought up her own sword to block his attack. He shoved a hand towards her stomach, hidden blade extended. She dropped her sword from her good hand and grabbed his wrist, altering its path. Then, using his momentum she twisted his arm and threw him to the ground, face-first, as usual.

'Hm? Where's that cute little smirk of yours gone?' She mocked, standing victorious above him. He made to sweep her legs but she stamped her boot down hard on his half-raised hand.

'OW!' He cursed and glared at her. She lowered onto her haunches in front of him, smiling seductively and holding his chin gently in one hand.

'Awh, you look so cute lying at my feet.' She grinned. He snarled and tried to strike away her hand with his free arm. She grabbed his forearm, twisting it around painfully. 'Tut tut. Did your mother never teach you it is rude to hit a lady?'

'Ha! You're hardly what I'd call a "lady".' He retorted, struggling against her grasp.

'Glad to hear it.' She announced, back flipping off him. 'That'll do for now.' She decided, picking up her sword and sheathing it. 'Get some rest and stretch out those nice muscles of yours otherwise you'll hurt more than necessary in the morning.'

He cursed her again and got to his feet, sheathing his own sword. It was dark now, they'd been fighting in the large courtyard by candle light, to "train awareness", or so Myra claimed. 'Do I at least get a good night kiss?' Ezio dared. Myra snorted, nonchalantly flinging a throwing knife to slice through one of his bangs and bury itself still quivering into the wall behind him.

'Shit.' He hissed, inspecting his sliced hair

'That's the only "goodnight" you'll get from me, boy.'

'You're a bitch, ya know?'

Myra laughed, 'I knew I'd be able to melt that ladies'-man façade you had going on.' She replied smugly.

'Damn you!' Was his only response. Her laughter echoed throughout the courtyard as she disappeared into the corridors. Once she was gone he repeated the words again, to himself, 'Damn you...'


	7. Help me, I'm falling!

'I don't see why I have to learn all of this stuff!' Ezio complained again, running his hands through his hair and staring with impatience and frustration at the papers in front of him

'You can't just bully your way through a fight with pure brawn; you're an _assassin_, not a thug. Or at least you will be, when I'm done with you.'

'Pure brawn worked perfectly well for me before.' He muttered, obviously not intending her to hear

'Pure brawn has nearly got you killed numerous times! You are sloppy, spontaneous and foolish.' She shook her head and whacked him on the back of his, 'Get back to work, slacker.'

As she started to saunter out the room he protested, 'Wait! Where are you going?'

'Out in the fresh air, hopefully to get a drink; it's boiling and stuffy as hell in here.'

'That's not fair!' He whined

'Life's not fair, get used to it.' She shot back at him. 'And you better have solved all those problems, deciphered all of those codes and come up with a decent battle strategy for the scenario I set up by the time I get back. Otherwise, I'll kill you.' She shrugged and slammed the door. She heard him yell his annoyance into the room and laughed to herself, going in search of a drink and something to eat, and maybe a few archers to kill.

By the time she arrived back at the house, it was late; she'd given him plenty of time to finish as it was clear he wasn't the brightest of sparks. Opening the door quietly she locked it behind her and strolled into the room. The only light came from a candle, burnt down to a snub and starting to gutter out. Ezio was collapsed onto the desk, she raised an eyebrow, but looking over the papers on the desk she saw he'd finished all the tasks she'd set him, and had even come up with more than one battle strategy. Maybe he wasn't as dumb as she'd assumed. To be truthful, she was quite impressed. Smiling, she looked down at him and noticed how vulnerable he seemed in his sleep, no, vulnerable wasn't the right word; he looked kinder, simpler, with the cocky smirk gone from his face. Though she had to admit, his smirk was cute too. Shaking her head at herself she picked up the candle and dripped molten wax onto Ezio's head.

'OW! OW! FUCK!' He jerked awake, clutching at his head, 'Ow...' His eyes focussed and he saw her, armed with candle, 'Bitch.'

'You've finished the work, good; I gave you bloody long enough to do it.' Myra stated, not wanting to tell the truth as he'd never let her forget it. She grinned, 'I got a contract while I was out, and you're coming with me. I'm going to show you how a real assassin does things.'

'Hn.' He stood up, stretching and removing the rapidly solidifying wax from within his hair. 'Cool, when do we leave?'

'Now, or at least, as soon as you've got your assassin robes and weapons on. So hurry up, I assume even you can dress yourself.'

'Actually, I'm not too sure. Maybe you should help me?' He invited, grinning. Myra merely rolled her eyes and walked out the room.

'You've got five minutes.' She warned as she slammed the door on his laughter.

About half a minute later the door opened and Myra eyed him critically, 'We really should dye your robes; white is far too conspicuous, especially at night.'

'It's never been a problem for me before.' He shrugged,

'Mmhm. Yeh I guess you're right, as long as you ignore all those times you almost got killed by archers because they could spot you a mile away, of course.'

'Whatever.' He relented, 'But after the mission, ok?'

'Fine.'

They ran together, across rooftops and through alleyways, driving their blades through the hearts of any enemies they spotted.

'First rule; if you can't be stealthy and conceal your presence, then don't leave behind any witnesses.' She instructed, indicating the fleeing guard Ezio had taken mercy on. 'Where do you think that guard is running to? He's going to inform everyone we've been here.' She shook her head, 'Go. Kill him.'

Ezio nodded and obeyed, all signs of joking gone from him face; it seemed he was taking this seriously. Good. It saved her having to lecture him later. By the time they reached her target's villa it was well past midnight, judging by the position of the moon, and the cold was beginning to set in, along with the after affects of the alcohol Myra had drunk.

'Shit, my head is killing me.' She complained, perched precariously on a protruding wooden beam

'And you lecture _me_?'

'Hmph. It hasn't affected my ability to do my job, has it? So shush your mouth boy and listen.' She pointed to the guards patrolling the ground. 'They run in shifts, see? But due to the layout of the courtyard, there is a blind spot for about five seconds every minute, can you see it?'

Ezio considered the scene below for a while before answering, 'Behind that bush?' He pointed and Myra nodded,

'Exactly. But the door to the target's house is on the other side of the courtyard, and if the guards spot you, they'll alert him and he'll run away. People want him dead, and he knows it. So what would you do?'

'I would take down two of the guards from here with poisoned needles, then jump down behind the bush, while taking out the third guard that we can't get a clear shot at from this angle in mid air and then timing the fourth guard's death to coincide with the poison's affects.'

'A satisfactory strategy. Let's see if you can pull it off.' She motioned for him to go ahead. His face was set, determined. Seemed like he was really out to impress. He hit the first two fine but missed the third. Not letting this distract him, he took out the fourth as she leapt from the roof and took down the one he'd missed. 'Almost perfect. And hitting a moving target while in mid air is hard.' Ezio seemed pleased with her acknowledgment, so she just _had_ to follow up with a criticism, 'But almost perfect is not perfect and if I hadn't been here to save your ass yet again, our target would have escaped. You have to get it spot on first time, every time; there's no room for mistakes in an assassin's life, because one simple slip up can mean your death, it's not like you can replay your mistakes over and over again until you get it right. So this time, I want perfection. And if you don't deliver, I'll kill you." She stated it like a fact, and Ezio knew she wasn't kidding. He nodded soberly. 'Our target is in the top room of the villa, kill him before he can scream and leave no traces of your visit. Meet me back here once you're done.'

Ezio jumped down and picked the lock on the window, climbing quietly inside. His movements were surprisingly graceful , and his body obviously very strong and supple. Physically, he was the perfect assassin. But he was too impatient for the kill, too _unrefined_. It infuriated her and yet, it was what most attracted her to him. So much so that if he failed she wasn't sure if she could carry out her threat, and that was problem. Making a threat you couldn't carry out was a fatal mistake, every assassin, thief, guard and mercenary knew that. And yet she, the best of all of them, had gone ahead and done it anyway. Goddamn her! And Goddamn Ezio!

'I have some good news, some bad news and some great news.' Ezio's voice said from behind her, she'd been so wrapped up in her own thoughts she hadn't heard him approach. Shit. She was losing it.

'For your life's sake, you better deal with the bad news before I find out about it.' She replied, managing to stop herself from jumping and spinning round to face him.

'It's only bad news for you, not for me.' He promised, a smirk in his voice.

'Oh yeh? I assure you that bad news for me is _very_ bad news for you.' She tensed, expecting him to try and slit her throat but instead he laughed

'Do you want to hear it or not?'

'Fine. Spit it out.'

'The good news is that I killed him, exactly the way you requested.'

'Then what's the bad news?'

'You don't get to kill me.' He answered, she allowed herself a laugh at that.

'Go on then, what's the great news?'

'Well, seeing as I'm not dead. I'm free tonight, so we can have some fun.'

'Hn.' She spun round and punched him hard in the face, 'You're right; that was fun.' She grinned as he clutched at his nose.

'Shit! You broke it!'

'Good.' She retorted harshly, but then took pity on him, 'Come here, I'll reset it for you, that pretty face is really your only asset.' His eyes opened in surprise at her words as she crouched down in front of him. 'What?'

'Nothing, just a memory. OW!-FU-! Oh.' She'd grabbed hold of his nose while he'd been talking and had snapped it back into place. 'Thanks.'

'Don't mention it. A memory of what?' She probed, wanting to hear more about his past

'Of my brother Federico, he said exactly the same thing to me once, a few days before he died.' He indicated his scar, 'He took me to the doctors to get this sewn up.'

'Templars?' Myra asked, Ezio nodded 'I lost my brother to them as well, along with my parents.' She sighed, 'I'm guessing that's why you became an assassin then?'

'Not entirely, at first I just wanted to kill one guy, but then I found out about The Assassin's Creed and the fight against the Templars, and I knew I had to carry on my father's work.' He smiled and she felt her heart soften. Fuck it all. Why did he have to make it so hard to not fall for him? 'What about you? How did the great Shadow Stalker become an Assassin?'

'Born and raised one. My mother and father were both assassins, I learnt from them and my older brother, Rafaello. At first it was fun, running across rooftops and launching at training dummies. But then, one night when I was 12, Templars came to our villa in the countryside and destroyed the surrounding village. We fought, but we lost. My mother and father offered to hold them off while my brother and I escaped, but we were waylaid a few minutes later. Rafaello died protecting me and I went into a frenzy; I killed every Templar in the area, but I was too late, my parents and my brother were dead, along with nearly all the villagers. From that moment on I swore vengeance on the Templars, not just for the deaths of my family, but for all the innocents they killed just to get at us.'

'They are blinded by power, so blind they do not see the lives they are crushing underfoot.' Ezio agreed, shocking Myra into silence with the uncharacteristic wisdom of his words

'You know, maybe I underestimated you; you're smarter than I gave you credit for, aren't you?'

'I was wondering what it was going to take to get you to realise.' He grinned. She shook her head lightly in amusement.

'Stop sounding so pleased with yourself of else I'll have to hit you again. Come on; I'll race you back to the house. Whoever gets there last has to clean up!' She laughed, already running

'Hey! Wait up! That's not fair!' He called after her, laughing as well.


	8. My Hero

'There, that's much better.' Myra decided, inspecting his clothes.

'Eh, I'm not sure.' He admitted, also staring down at his now black and gray assassin robes.

'You will be tonight when half the archers in the city don't spot you from miles away. We should have dyed them much sooner, it's been weeks, but training you was more important.' She paused, 'I'm glad we managed to get it done before the job tonight though.'

He shrugged, unwilling to argue further, 'So, what's the job?' They were walking now, weaving their way in and out of the everyday-hustle of Venice and being careful not to wander too close to any guards.

'It's from a friend, apparently someone I know needs help with something, but he won't tell me who.'

'That's strange.'

'Not really, he does this sort of thing often, to "test my trust", or so he puts it.' She sped up, hoping to end the conversation. She had no such luck, of course.

Ezio raised an eyebrow, obviously unwilling to let the subject drop, 'Oh, and why might he be doubtful about your trust?'

'It's a long story,' She replied, Ezio crossed his arms and stopped in the middle of the street

'Well, we're in no rush, you said the job wasn't until tonight.' He pointed out, smug.

'Oh all right, I can see you're not going to give up, stupid headstrong man.' She grabbed his arm, pulling him into an alleyway where they wouldn't be overheard by passing guards. 'I tried to kill him when we first met, I thought he was trying to rob me.'

Ezio laughed, 'Why am I not surprised?'

'Shut up.' She spat at him, starting to scale the side of a building. Her arm was still causing her considerable pain, even though it had been weeks, so she was making slow progress, so slow in fact that Ezio made the top before her.

'Want a hand?' he offered, reaching over the edge so he could pull her up. She shot him a look and determinedly hauled herself up the last few metres. He just shrugged 'And you called me stubborn.'

'I said shut up.' She shot back, starting to run. Annoyingly, he kept pace with her easily, even when she began to speed up, not missing a single step. She had to admit he was good at free running, very good in fact, like he'd been doing it his whole life. He must have started long before he became an assassin, maybe his father had trained him. Either way, he was a natural._ Hn, at least I won't have to train him in that as well. _She thought, but knew she was only being petty; she was impressed. He was turning out to be far more proficient than she'd assumed, a little rough around the edges, yes. But on the whole, he was actually a pretty decent assassin. Of course, that didn't make not falling for him any easier.

Ezio stopped suddenly, peering over the side of a building. She frowned and stopped as well, walking over to see what he was looking at.

'Who's that?' He asked. It was a small courtyard, covered in guards who were surrounding a group of four men.

'Shit. That's Bartolomeo.' She informed, instantly jumping off the building. She used a guard to break her fall, simultaneously slipping a hidden blade into his neck. At once the guards nearest to her turned, advancing on her. She withdrew her sword, twisting her body so her bad arm was furthest away. She cut down the first guard quickly while Ezio jumped down. Unfortunately, he misjudged the height and landed slightly too heavily,

'Urgh.' He groaned, starting to straighten up. Two guards imeditally took advantage of his momentary weakness and made to attack him. Cursing, Myra flung a throwing knife into the neck of one, but before she could dispatch the second one, a sword cleaved a deep gash across her arm. She gasped, stumbling away from her attacker and inspecting her wound. It was deep, and bleeding readily, she was lucky she hadn't lost her arm. Realising she'd dropped her sword she withdrew a dagger from her belt, clutching it tightly as the crowd of guards closed in on her. Flashes of pain shot up from the gash every time she moved, but if she faltered again now it would mean her death. Ezio would just have to look after himself for a bit. She dodged neatly as the next guard attacked, sidestepping around his guard and thrusting her dagger deep into his jugular. Ripping it back out again, she shoved him towards the other guards and twirled, stabbing the next guard in the leg. He dropped and she smashed a foot into his face as she ducked beneath the swing of an axe. She grabbed her dagger by the handle with her teeth, using her free hands to grab the huge brute's arm and twist it round, letting go a wordless cry as the effort caused fresh pain to flare up in both her arms. The guard dropped his axe and she whipped her head towards his neck, embedding the dagger into the side of his throat. She jumped backwards but caught a blow to her knee as she landed, causing her leg to crumple. She cursed as she landed on her broken arm, squinting up through the pain as a guard raised his sword to attack. She slid open her hidden daggers, desperately lurching forward and stabbing him in the groin. He howled in pain, but continued to bring the sword down towards her. She barrel-rolled out of the way, but she collided with another guard, who instantly grabbed her, twisting her arms round behind her back so she couldn't escape. She cried out as her broken arm was twisted and struggled, but that only caused her more pain so she stopped, defeated, and looked down.

'Captain! It's a woman.' The guard holding her called. One of the Brutes stepped forward, flicking up his visor and squatting down next to her.

'So it is...' he trailed off, looking at her outfit, her weapons, 'By God. It's her. The Shadow Stalker! We've caught her! We're going to be rich!' He laughed, grabbing her chin in his gloved hand and holding it securely, forcing her to look into his eyes. 'She doesn't look like much, barely five years an adult. All this trouble, for you? Do you have any idea what the price on your head is girl?' He shook his head in disbelief.

'I bet it's nothing on what you and your leaders steal and bully from the people of Venice every week.' She replied, smirking.

'Do not speak ill of your betters!' He snapped, backhanding her. Her face stung but she forced the smirk to stay in place. His face grew red in his anger and he seized her again, leaning in close, his spittle spraying her face, 'We are law abiding citizens, upholding order in our city! You are a pathetic criminal, a murder-agh-a-' His head toppled to the floor, mid sentence. She looked up to see Ezio, his sword coated in blood and pointed at the man holding Myra. The guards instantly turned to face him, their own swords extended

'Let her go.' He commanded.

'Take one more step and I'll slit her throat.' The man holding her warned, though his voice quivered ever so slightly, and she could feel his heart beat faster through his thin chest plate. One guard attacked Ezio and he parried near-perfectly, slipping past his defence apparently effortlessly and stabbing the guard though the stomach. She grinned, he really was coming along well, but she couldn't very well let him do all the work. Seeing as the other guards were now distracted, she smashed her head backwards, into the face of the man holding her. She heard him curse, then felt his grip on her loosen as he raised his hands to his face. She wasted no time in rolling forward and springing to her feet, whirling round on the guard to find she'd smashed several of his teeth out and had broken his nose. She scooped up a weapon from the ground and quickly finished him off before joining Ezio in the fray. Bartolomeo and his two remaining men were also fighting, and between the five of them, they managed to defeat the last few guards.

'Bartolomeo, how do you manage to _always _get into trouble?' Myra asked, grinning despite her bruises and wounds, the adrenaline still coursing through her blood.

'It's Silvio Barbarigo and his men, they've taken over l'Arsenale and captured nearly all my men, along with my beloved Bianca. I was only trying to get her back and free my men.' He explained, 'But Silvio's men are everywhere, all the street-entrances to where my men are being held are completely surrounded.'

'Sounds like you could use some help.' She noted, 'We've got nothing to do until after nightfall, so I'm sure we can lend you a hand.'

'I'm Ezio Auditore da Firenze, nice to meet you.' Ezio announced, stepping forward and offering his hand

'Nice to meet you too, I'm Bartolomeo d'Alviano.' He shook Ezio's hand energetically.

'Right, now that everyone's introduced, where're your men being held?'

'In a number of places scattered throughout the Castello district, but I must reclaim Bianca first, she's at the headquarters.'

'Okay, you guys go ahead, I'm going to quickly bandage this, and then I'll catch you up. Can you manage by yourselves for a few minutes? You need to get out of here before anymore of Silvio's men show up.'

'Of course we'll be fine!' Bartolomeo declared,

Ezio smirked and nodded 'I managed just fine in Florence without you there to hold my hand.' He reminded her. 'Are you going to be alright though, what if more guards show up?'

'Don't worry about me, I can always just make a quick getaway via the roofs.' She assured. Ezio nodded and they took off, running down the streets. She shook her head, he might've got the hang of subtlety while fighting, but his movements on the streets were still too conspicuous. He barged his way through whenever he was in a rush, and his step was too confident. Guards would instantly be suspicious of anyone who looked so confident and wasn't a well-known local noble. No doubt Ezio's habits as a young nobleman hadn't yet had the time to wear off. She was going to have to train him out of them soon. But right now she had bigger problems to think about. Her clothes were already soaked in blood from her wound and she had a blossoming headache in the back of her head from when she'd head butted the guard. Not to mention her other arm which still hurt like hell and the bruise she could feel already forming on the side of her knee.

She sighed, ripping a strip of cloth from a dead guard and withdrew a small metal flask from the folds of her robes. She soaked the cloth in the alcohol from the container then wrapped it tightly around her arm several times before tying a knot. It wouldn't be enough, she knew, but it would do for now until she had more time and better equipment. She couldn't handle climbing up the side of a building now so instead she ran through the streets, she'd been to Bartolomeo's headquarters many times before and she knew the way. It took her longer than it should have though, running on her injured knee hurt and every step jostled her broken arm, which was throbbing painfully again, fucking guard must've re-cracked it. By the time she'd arrived Ezio and Bartolomeo were just leaving

'We'll get this done faster if we split up.' Myra decided, 'Where are they being held?' Bartolomeo described the locations and Myra nodded, 'Okay, since you can run faster at the moment Ezio, you free the ones furthest away, I'll get the others. Meet back here when you're done.' Ezio nodded and started to run off, but she called after him, 'Ezio! Be careful, and remember your lessons.'

'Worried about me?' He asked, grinning, she rolled her eyes, 'Don't fear for me Signorina, I can look after myself.' She shook her head at him as he disappeared around the corner and turned to Bartolomeo

'Are you okay here until we get back?'

'Of course!'

'Just don't get into too much trouble.' She warned, before also taking off down the street. She found a pile of overturned boxes and ran up them, jumping onto a pole before hauling herself up onto the roof one-handed, gritting her teeth at the exertion. Once up she continued to run, surveying the area below and occasionally taking out the odd guard. The streets were in turmoil, guards everywhere, people running to get away, Bartolomeo sure knew how to make a mess. She found the first group of his men easily, dropping a smoke bomb onto the ground below before quickly following after it. She took out three guards while they were still recovering but left the last two while she freed the men. By the time they were out of the cage, the remaining guards had recovered and were advancing on her. Myra took one down and let the group of mercenaries handle the other. _That went surprisingly well._ Short, sweet and, most importantly, neat. No survivors, no fuss.

'Right, I assume we're going to have to take the streets?' She guessed, turning to the group of men. They nodded, somewhat sheepishly, and followed her as she led them out onto the busy crowded streets, 'Don't crash into people and try to move with the crowd, I really don't want to draw too much attention to us, understand?'

'Urh, yeah.'

'Good, do you know the quickest route to where your comrades are being held?'

One of them nodded and took the lead, they encountered several sets of guards but each time Myra signalled a group of Theodora's courtesans to lead them away. All in all, it went very smoothly, they freed the second set of men and made it back to Bartolomeo without any major mishaps. Ezio arrived seconds after her, his stamina and long legs allowing him to easily outpace the mercenaries who were staggering behind him.

'Try not to lose the men you're supposed to be protecting.' Myra chatisised, feeling the need to criticise him for something. Turning to Bartolomeo, she asked 'What next?'

'We take back l'Arsenale!' He announced.

'Okay, great. How?'

'If you and Ezio can take out any guards at their posts and replace them with my men we'll be able to take the district back easily! When my men all attack at once, Silvio will be overwhelmed.'

'How do we signal them to attack at the same time? We're going to need something big to ensure they all see it...' Myra mused, thinking

'What about a firework?' Ezio suggested

'Yeah, that would work,' she admitted, 'But where should we launch if from?' She obviously had the same idea as Ezio for both their eyes turned towards a near-by tower. 'Right, take half the men with you and get them into position, after you're done, meet me at the bottom of the tower.' She instructed, Ezio nodded and ran off, the poor mercenaries running after him, lagging behind in their heavy clothing. 'Ezio! Slow down!' She called. He turned, grinning, and saluted, before slowing his pace slightly to let the mercenaries catch up. 'That man has far too much energy.' She muttered, Bartolomeo laughed. '_You_, don't get into trouble while we're away.' She warned, turning on him before taking off as well, motioning for the remaining mercenaries to follow her.


	9. Revelation

She stood at the foot of the tower, the mercenaries long since in their positions, mentally preparing herself for the torture of climbing the tower. Taking a deep breath she ran at the wall, catching a low window and hauling herself up, one handed. Quickly, so as not to let her grip slip, she chose her next handhold and leapt for it, wedging the toe of her boot in a crack to release some of the strain on her arm. She continued up in this manner, one handhold at a time, occasionally letting out a grunt of pain as the climb pulled at the open wound on her arm or she was forced to put weight on her damaged leg. Finally, she reached the top. Ezio was already there, firework in hand. She nodded to him, sitting down and taking a few seconds to recuperate on the floor while he lit it.

'That should be us done.' She said, relieved, but trying not to let her exhaustion show.

'Don't get your hopes up.' Ezio warned, looking at the streets below.

'Fuck it. What now?' She hauled herself to her feet and joined him. Bartolomeo and several of his men were surrounded by Dante Moro and a selection of his armed guards. From what she could see, Bartolomeo was losing, badly. 'Bloody man. I told him to stay out of trouble!' Myra cursed again and walked out onto the view point and dived off. She landed with a perfect leap of faith into a pile of hay, despite her injuries, although the landing did jolt her broken arm and cause a stream of colourful curses to be ejected from her mouth. Rolling out of the hay and straightening up, she brushed her clothes off and waited for Ezio. He landed seconds later, instantly springing out and rushing off to help Bartolomeo. That man had _too _much energy. She half-ran, half-hobbled over to the fight and drew out her sword.

'Admittedly, I have been dying to use this.' She allowed as she thrust it through the nearest guard's heart, barely noticing his defence. She finished off three more before she heard Ezio call out. She turned to face him to see him running full-pelt after Dante Moro, who was fleeing.

'He might lead you to that bastard Silvio!' Bartolomeo advised, using his considerable strength to barge a guard out of the way. Myra made her way over to the older man.

'I want to follow him.' She said, sheathing her sword and using her hidden blades instead, they put less of a strain on her arm.

'Why? He seems perfectly capable of looking after himself.'

'I don't care. I want to follow him.' She repeated determinedly. 'Can you hold out here by yourself now? Come find us once you've finished here.'

'Of course, there's only a few of them left, me and my men are in control. But, if I didn't know you better, I would say you were developing a liking for this new assassin.'

'Oh please, after all the time and effort I've put into training him, I just don't want him to get himself killed. That's all.' She insisted.

'Ah, so it's your fault he fights like a woman. All tactics and tricks. He should fight openly and fairly like a man.'

'Dear god man, he's an _assassin_, not a street performer. It doesn't matter what he looks like or what people think of him. In fact, it would be better if people didn't see him at all and didn't even know he existed.'

'Bah! That kind of talk is for cowards.'

'And yet he didn't hesitate to rush in and save your life, risking his own for a complete stranger.' She pointed out, finishing off one last guard before taking down the streets after Ezio.

'See! I told you that you liked him!' Bartolomeo called after her, laughing. She cursed and continued.

By the time she'd caught Ezio up, he'd already finished off Silvio and Dante. He was laying their bodies down on the floor and straightening up when she approached. She nodded approvingly

'Respect for the dead, no matter who they've been. Somebody taught you well.'

'My uncle Mario.' He informed, walking over

'A wise man. Come on, let's get back.' He nodded and walked next to her. Bartolomeo arrived after a few minutes

'Ah, I guess you got him then. Thank you. I owe you my gratitude. If you should ever need me, you know where to look.' He said, addressing Ezio before clasping hands with him and patting him on the back. 'Goodbye Asilia, don't ruin the boy too much.' He said to her, she crossed her arms in disapproval and watched him leave, still chuckling to himself.

'Damn man.' She muttered and kept walking. Her knee was still hurting and it felt a bit swollen but she was getting used to moving on it now. They exited l'Arsenale and after no more than a few seconds, Antonio dropped to the ground,

'Asilia!' He greeted, using her fake name. 'And Ezio. Nice to see you both.'

'Wait, you two know each other?' Ezio asked, putting the pieces together, 'But that means, that night at the brothel...You knew!' He glared accusingly at Antonio, who only shrugged.

'I was enjoying her discomfort.' He accepted easily, 'Of course, I didn't know she'd be in that exact brothel, but I took an educated guess. She always returns to Teodora's when she's got nowhere else to go.' Myra shot him a glare, he shrugged innocently.

'Did you need something Antonio?'

'Only to let you know that the job I had for you, well, you've already done it. Here's your pay. Split it with Ezio.' He chucked a heavy coin purse at her. She passed it to Ezio,

'Keep it, you deserved it. Goodbye Antonio.' She brushed past him, not even meeting his eyes

'So cold.' He shook his head, said goodbye to Ezio and then took off. Myra started the long trek back to the base, sticking to the streets as she didn't have the willpower to even attempt free running with her injuries, taking regular and deep swigs from the flask in her pocket, the fiery liquor blurring the edges of the pain. Ezio, for his part, didn't say anything, just followed her.


End file.
